If someone has been a diligent worker their whole life, and saved/invested enough to retire early (say, before 62 or so), they have certain goals, desires and aspirations in retirement that perhaps those who retired on time or late may not.
However, unfortunately, all too often these savvy, diligent professionals often trade in their career for their health. But a lot of their retirement plans involve good health. Or rather, they cant accomplish their retirement goals without it.
A lot of our clients are early retirees, and we see this very often. Theres a lot that they want to accomplish in retirement, like:
- Helping out and playing with their grandkids
- Travel
- Volunteering for causes that are meaningful to them
- Mentor others who are in the same career they were in
- Taking certain classes in fields that they enjoy not because they have to, but because they want to
- Just spend some time with their friends, playing golf, tennis, hiking, or something else
They have many admirable, selfless aspirations, but for all of those, they need great energy levels, sharp minds, and good health, because their retirement may be 25-35 years long.
So after they retire, theyll frequently approach my team and I in their quest for good health. Whether that means losing a few pounds, and improving their muscle tone and strength, or whether its managing and reversing certain conditions, like arthritis, high blood pressure, diabetes, osteoporosis, etc.
Because of that, weve created a special program for early retirees called Healthy Retirement, and if youd like to see whether that program is for you, just respond to this email with the words healthy retirement in the subject line.
In this article, well address some of the biggest mistakes that early retirees make with their fitness.
Biggest Fitness Mistakes Early Retirees Make
In no particular order, here are the most common mistakes that we see early retirees making:
Mistake #1: No Strength Training
One of the most common questions I get is I go for regular walks. Is that enough? While going for regular walks is absolutely great for your health, it doesnt do anything for your strength levels.
The same applies for fitness classes. Sometimes our clients will go for different fitness classes, but all those classes are cardio classes, or flexibility classes (yoga). Again, all good stuff, but missing a very important element: strength training. This is even true for classes that I call cardio in disguise (namely, body pump classes). The classes make you use weights, so you think youre strength training. But youre not. Youre just doing cardio with weights. Again, its not bad for you. It just doesnt accomplish the same things as strength training. If this concept confuses you, just read my article on the definition of strength training, and why its so confusing.
One of the most significant impacts on your health is your levels of physical strength. Most people who end up in long-term care homes dont get there due to lack of cardiovascular fitness or lack of flexibility (although they play a role). They get there because they dont have the physical strength to perform basic activities of daily living, like:
- Dressing themselves
- Washing themselves
- Grocery shopping
- Household duties (vacuuming, dusting, etc.)
The older you get, the greater these risks are. And all of them every last one can be mitigated with strength training. The key, however, is making it both safe (having good technique) and progressive.
On the safe side of things, sometimes by the time theyre reached retirement age (even if it is early retirement), theyve accumulated some wear and tear. Maybe its arthritis, but maybe its just run of the mill knee pain, back pain, shoulder pain, etc. Strength training has to be hard on the muscles, but easy on the joints. I write about this in more detail in my article on joint-friendly strength training. Ideally, its not just avoiding making the joints worse, but actively making them better.
Thats why with our clients, like Gord, Pat, and others, we dont just make them stronger we make their joints feel better.
Mistake #2: Workouts That Are Too Easy
Having read the previous section, you might be patting yourself on the back, thinking I do strength training. Good for me.
Good for you for setting aside the time to do strength training. That is commendable. But are you babying yourself too much during your workouts? Do you finish a set, and feel like you could have done 5+ more repetitions? If so, chances are your workouts are too easy. At the end of a set, you should feel like you only had 0-3 more reps in you.
See, a workout has to be challenging enough to get your body to make progress. If it doesnt cross that threshold, youre not making progress. If you push too hard, its a risk for stagnation and injury. As I always tell my clients we dont want it to be easy or hard. We want it to be challenging for you.
You might be thinking Im not a young kid anymore that kind of exercise is not for me. But youd be wrong
Everyone has a certain threshold that they need to cross to make progress. You dont cross that threshold, you dont make progress, no matter what your age. And if youre happy just maintaining your levels of strength, thats fine. But if you actually want to improve your strength, taking it easy just wont do. Again, it should be easy, and it shouldnt be hard. It should be challenging.
Mistake #3: Not Addressing Sleep
We get it if someone got to the point where they were able to retire early, they were probably burning the candle at both ends. Working well over 40 hours per week. Not only were they working crazy hours, but their mind would keep going, even as theyre lying in bed. While it may be great for your bank account, it sure isnt great for your health.
Case in point, one of our clients is the president of a publicly-traded security company. He sold his business in his late 50s. To say hes a very successful guy would be an understatement.
But he admitted to going several decades sleeping only 5-6 hours a night. Again, great for his bank account. Bad for his health.
As a result, he said that he slept at red lights, and in the last year before he realized he needed to prioritize sleep more, he got into 7 car accidents in one year.
To make things worse, nowadays, at only 65, his immune system is basically shot. He gets sick 5-6 times per year, and takes about 2 weeks to recover.
I wont belabor the importance of sleep, or how to sleep better, as I discuss that extensively in other articles, like this one, this one and this one.
Mistake #4: Not Enough Protein
Sometimes I feel like a broken record, that to 95% of clients, I recommend more protein than theyre currently eating. Want to lose weight? Eat more protein. Want to gain muscle and get stronger? Eat more protein.
The implications of low protein levels are so far-reaching, that for a very simple (and tasty) change, a lot of health issues can be avoided, like:
- Low muscle strength and frailty
- Osteoporosis
- Diabetes
- Immune decline
and others.
If youre wondering how much protein should I be getting?, the answer is it depends. It depends on both your age, activity levels (sedentary, cardio only, strength training only, or strength training + cardio), and weight.
In general, someone sedentary and under 60 needs about 1.2 grams/kg/day. Someone over 60 whos sedentary needs around 1.8 grams/kg/day. Someone under 60, doing only cardio needs around 1.5 g/kg/day. Someone over 60, doing cardio only needs around 2.2 g/kg/day. Someone under 60 doing strength training (or strength + cardio) needs around 1.8 g/kg/day. Someone over 60 needs 2.5-2.7 g/kg/day.
If you want to get way deeper into it, heres a very comprehensive article from examine.com on that topic. Heres another one from Precision Nutrition.
But heres the irony: despite people over 60 needing more protein than those under 60, their desire for it is less. Giving into that desire would be wrong
Mistake #5: Not Getting an Annual Physical
I once had a client who was an early retiree. Also, very successful businessman. What got him to become my client? He hadnt done an annual physical from 1997 to 2018. In 2018, he felt off (in his own words). Something wasnt right. He was more tired than he was before, he was thirstier than before, and he didnt think it was just age. So he went to get tested, and thats when he discovered that hes a type 2 diabetic.
How long hes been a diabetic who knows. But the longer you go with diabetes, the more irreversible damage you do.
He did read about one of our clients, Mandy, who was able to reverse her type 2 diabetes, in retirement, so he wanted help with that as well.
As they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. You dont want to use what I call the ostrich strategy to health. That is, if you stick your head in the sand, and you dont know that anything is wrong, that means theres nothing wrong. Your body doesnt care what you know or dont know. So you might as well learn about it, and do your annual physical.
If youd like to avoid making these mistakes and want to get on the right path for your goals, we have a special program for early retirees called Healthy Retirement. If you want to see whether that program is for you, just respond to this email with the words healthy retirement in the subject line.
